Thus the Nation has come down to the present day, in which it stands supreme among the powers of the world in freedom and prosperity and all the true elements of greatness. Upon such a basis of accomplished facts, the patriotic seer must cast, if he will, its future horoscope. CHAPTER IV. WORLD’S FAIRS. During the past half century a favorite and effective method of displaying and recording the industrial progress of the world has been found in the holding of World’s Fairs, or Universal Exhibitions. Almost every important capital of the world has now held one or more of these interesting displays, each in succession striving to outdo its predecessors in extent and magnificence, until the latest of them truly present in epitome the invention, industry, art, science, and general progress of the entire world. It was fitting that the first of these universal exhibitions should be held in the world’s chief city, London. It was opened in 1851 in a huge building erected in Hyde Park for the purpose, known as the Crystal Palace. This stupendous structure was composed chiefly of iron and glass and had a floor area of more than one million square feet. In size and originality of design it was one of the marvels of the world. The example quickly stimulated similar enterprises in other capitals. Dublin and Paris soon followed, and almost simultaneously with the exhibition in the Irish metropolis a similar exhibition was opened in the capital of the Western Hemisphere. The American Crystal Palace, which was opened in New York in 1853, was in point of size much inferior to its prototype in London, and altogether insignificant when contrasted with the stupendous exhibitions of later years. For its time, however, it was proportionately equal to any that has ever been held. At that time New York City contained only a little more than half a million inhabitants, or about one-third of its present population. The development of the United States was still less advanced. What was now central Western States were then sparsely settled frontier territories. The Pacific railroads were a dream of the dim future. The Atlantic Cable was a vision. The telegraph itself was a mere rudiment of its present development. The railroad and the steamboat were primitive affairs. Even horse cars had not come into general use. Photography was in its infancy. As for the telephone, the electric light, and a score of other great inventions that are now of universal use, they were not even dreamed of. As the New York Crystal Palace of 1853 was to the Chicago Exhibition of 1893, so was America and its civilization of that time to our country of to-day.